Agility training

DJEtzel

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Always, always rewarding on the reward line, too. That's part of the foundations but it has helped B look for his reward away from me and specifically in front of him.
Yes, I definitely make sure I always do this because I didn't with Frag for the longest time when we were starting out and it really crippled his ability to work away from me and drive forward.
 

Laurelin

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So I'm sitting her with my entry forms trying to decide what to enter... I have until tomorrow, LOL.

My gut is saying 'enter Mia in one gamblers run and that's it. Enter Summer in jumpers and gamblers either one or two days.' Then I have this little voice saying 'enter Summer in ALLLLLL the things.'
 

Laurelin

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Trying to decide on that.

Is it totally naive to expect Summer to do really well handling he environment because she just... Always does. I think the worst would be she runs around and visits the ring crew. I can't see her stress about it at all but could be wrong. I am considering doing jumpers and gamblers two days.

Mia I think might stress and I think I will be just doing gamblers but maybe do gamblers sat and Sunday? Not sure yet.
 

adojrts

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Trying to decide on that.

Is it totally naive to expect Summer to do really well handling he environment because she just... Always does. I think the worst would be she runs around and visits the ring crew. I can't see her stress about it at all but could be wrong. I am considering doing jumpers and gamblers two days.

Mia I think might stress and I think I will be just doing gamblers but maybe do gamblers sat and Sunday? Not sure yet.
Are there any fun matches you can get to before trialing?
 

CaliTerp07

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When you train, how much of a routine are you in? Treats on a chair outside the ring, walk in, leash off, run, leash on, go get treats? Or are you still carrying stuff in your pocket, rewarding periodically, etc?

If I could go back and do it again, my first few trials would be "run the outside loop and exit" (warning the gate steward/judge ahead of time). Lucy did great her first trial...and then we regressed majorly because she got ring wise and learned nothing good happened inside the ring.
 

Laurelin

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With Summer right now we're not rewarding much for most runs, just at the end. We've been doing full AKC standard courses with open weaves and no rewards except the weaves. We've done full jumpers courses without anything too. She is pretty used to 17-18 obstacles and no rewards and she keeps up speed the whole time in practice. I am usually set up 'inside the ring' (as in in the fence). We go straight from the crate to the start line generally and then go. Summer seems to find just working very rewarding so I never really worry about her motivation at all.

Mia gets a little less motivated sometimes. It really depends on the obstacles, which was why I was thinking gamblers then just go in and run the dog walk with her a few times. Dog walk and a-frame are her favorites. :)

If I do the latter with Mia, is it best to tell the judge we're just going to do the dog walk and not go for a Q?
 

CaliTerp07

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You'll have to go early to get measured, right? I'd talk to the judge then and just tell him/her it's your first trial, you have baby green dogs and you are going to make reinforcing courses for them. If you want to do contacts with Mia during gamblers, see if there's a way to make it a loop (not u-turning to go back, as that can be demotivating)

I've only ever had judges say positive things about my choice to minimize the course for my dog.

Maybe Summer is amazing and everything will work perfectly. With Lucy, we'd been running full length masters level AKC courses for a year before our first trial, and she still had major, major regression and stress in the new environment. In retrospect, it would have been better to play it safe and build a solid foundation.

ALSO, DON'T FIX ANYTHING. Make the ring fun, make it happy, just keep running! Pay for engagement and enthusiasm.

My trainer says your first year of trialing is strictly for gathering information. Is your dog more successful crated inside, or in the car? Pulled from the crate 10 minutes or 10 seconds before their run? What is your warm up strategy? Do they run better from a sit/stay or a drop and go? Where are your weak points in training? It's not the place to solve, it's the place to observe and take that info back to training to work through. (easier said than done)
 

MandyPug

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Gamblers is a tricky one. Some judges up here will consider it unsportsmanlike to not even try the end gamble or even to do a couple obstacles and leave since its not a set course. Depends completely on the judge of course and USDAA could have judges who aren't as sticky about it.
 

Beanie

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Stuck between "yeah, Payton is ready, we can do this" and "he's not ready and this is a terrible idea."
It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't know there will be people sitting on the sidelines just waiting for me to crash and burn so they can smugly tell me they're right and obviously if I just punch Payton in the face a few times he'll be a much better behaved dog.
 

Shai

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With Summer right now we're not rewarding much for most runs, just at the end. We've been doing full AKC standard courses with open weaves and no rewards except the weaves. We've done full jumpers courses without anything too. She is pretty used to 17-18 obstacles and no rewards and she keeps up speed the whole time in practice. I am usually set up 'inside the ring' (as in in the fence). We go straight from the crate to the start line generally and then go. Summer seems to find just working very rewarding so I never really worry about her motivation at all.

Mia gets a little less motivated sometimes. It really depends on the obstacles, which was why I was thinking gamblers then just go in and run the dog walk with her a few times. Dog walk and a-frame are her favorites. :)

If I do the latter with Mia, is it best to tell the judge we're just going to do the dog walk and not go for a Q?
For the first part -- Summer (and Mia) might be fine or they might worry. How many you enter depends mostly on how ready you are to just walk away and not run some of the courses if the dogs are stressed out. If you don't think you can easily walk away, then don't enter everything. It's hard for me -- I've scratched a few runs in my time but definitely don't like doing it -- but some people find it more difficult than others. Since it's your first trial as well as theirs I would be inclined to only enter a few things, but that's just me.

As for the end, I know in AKC the judges wouldn't mind at all. Go in, set up like normal, run whatever you are going to run, wave a thank you to the judge, make your exit. In FAST folks do that sort of thing sometimes, especially with green dogs. It's much less common in standard/jumpers but does happen -- as long as you don't violate rules or take it to the level of training in the ring, it's not a big deal. USDAA could be more picky about it though, I don't know.
 

Laurelin

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Gamblers is a tricky one. Some judges up here will consider it unsportsmanlike to not even try the end gamble or even to do a couple obstacles and leave since its not a set course. Depends completely on the judge of course and USDAA could have judges who aren't as sticky about it.
Hmmm that's interesting to know. The USDAA trials I've been to have had very very understanding judges from what I've seen.

My trainer and I definitely talked about not fixing anything. She is telling me my dogs are doing amazing and thinks I'm underestimating Mia especially. I'm not sure just with her propensity to be weird on occasion.

I'm anxious to see what Summer does, she's just such a straightforward kind of dog that maybe I have my sights set too high with her. I am really thinking about entering her Sat and Sunday for 2 runs each day and just... seeing what happens. If I need to pull her, I will. I won't be out but $30 if I pull her from Sunday's runs.
 

meepitsmeagan

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So, I've gone to watch a few Master Handling Drop-In classes just to kind of see if agility is something I really want to invest in/practice taking pictures.

And, on a whim, I signed myself up for a drop in class with Lucy. I warned the instructor that we are WAY behind everyone else, but that I thought it would be a super good experience. She was cool with it, yadda yadda. However, I'm now in full panic mode. I'M NOT READY FOR THIS AT ALL. EVERYBODY ELSE IS JUST GOING TO BE WAITING FOR ME. She said that even if I don't drill, she doesn't care. But still. Lucy hasn't even seen a tunnel (that's the only thing they drill with other than jumps for this class so far). I've done a little bit of follow work and practicing some turns and a liiiiittle bit of send work, but lord. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF SHE CAN DO MORE THAN THREE JUMPS IN A ROW.

:yikes::dunno::eek: so many mixed feelings right now.
 

BostonBanker

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Don't even begin to hesitate to do whatever you need to in the ring in USDAA. I didn't even try the gamble with Gusto his first time. Just ran myself right over the line and ran it next to him. I've left the ring with Meg to jackpot stuff that I know was worrying her. I generally just say a cheerful "Thank you!" to the judge as we run on by. I've never seen or heard a single complaint.

I have a friend who has been working through "I can't weave in the ring" issues with her masters dog, and she often says to the judge as she's heading to the weaves "if she gets this we are headed out". Again, never a complaint.
 

AdrianneIsabel

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So, I've gone to watch a few Master Handling Drop-In classes just to kind of see if agility is something I really want to invest in/practice taking pictures.

And, on a whim, I signed myself up for a drop in class with Lucy. I warned the instructor that we are WAY behind everyone else, but that I thought it would be a super good experience. She was cool with it, yadda yadda. However, I'm now in full panic mode. I'M NOT READY FOR THIS AT ALL. EVERYBODY ELSE IS JUST GOING TO BE WAITING FOR ME. She said that even if I don't drill, she doesn't care. But still. Lucy hasn't even seen a tunnel (that's the only thing they drill with other than jumps for this class so far). I've done a little bit of follow work and practicing some turns and a liiiiittle bit of send work, but lord. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF SHE CAN DO MORE THAN THREE JUMPS IN A ROW.

:yikes::dunno::eek: so many mixed feelings right now.
Why not start with foundations?
 

Babyblue5290

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Talon is doing so good with his agility foundations class! And I really really enjoy doing it with him. However, we've decided to forgo anymore agility classes, at least for a while.

Talon has decided to not only start going through a second fear period, he also decided that barking dogs are nuts and need to be put down. >_< Last agility class the instructors dog was there in a wire cage. Talon ran off course for a second while I was talking to the instructor to sniff the new dog, it was fine until her dog started barking and hitting the bars (over-excited rather than aggressive). Talon was NOT a happy camper and went all teeth and barking. :( :eek: The rest of the class he was fine, no running at the dog, BUT he would start barking in his crate and growling when her dog was barking, this is not usual for Talon. He even refused to go into his crate at one point. Again, not usual at all! He goes in his crate happily, and is the quietest, most content dog there. Not that day.

So I've decided, to focus on obedience and socialization while we work through this fear period. He is fine with other dogs, it's only when they get really barky he seems unnerved. It may have to do with the terrier that attacked him as well.

So I'm super sad. :( I have to keep reminding myself he's young, I have plenty of time. :(
 

Flyinsbt

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Don't even begin to hesitate to do whatever you need to in the ring in USDAA. I didn't even try the gamble with Gusto his first time. Just ran myself right over the line and ran it next to him. I've left the ring with Meg to jackpot stuff that I know was worrying her. I generally just say a cheerful "Thank you!" to the judge as we run on by. I've never seen or heard a single complaint.

I have a friend who has been working through "I can't weave in the ring" issues with her masters dog, and she often says to the judge as she's heading to the weaves "if she gets this we are headed out". Again, never a complaint.
I would agree that the USDAA judges will let you do what you need to do with your dog.

Also, a couple weeks ago, I was working the Starters/Advanced ring for my club's trial (I couldn't afford to enter myself, so I just went out and worked all day), and we had the most amazingly supportive judge I've ever encountered in my life. Her name was Ann Kitchen, and she was maybe the most +R person I've ever come across, she had a nice comment for every team in her ring. So I'd recommend that any newbie starting out who has the chance to enter under her, do so. :lol-sign:
 

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